Temperature
by TwistedKeysandSnare
Summary: A 2-3 part story about a camping trip gone wrong... Lots of Stef x Callie and some Callie x Jesus too! Enjoy ;)
1. Chapter 1

Temperature

 **Author's Note: Here is yet another short fic revolving mainly around Stef and Callie. (Although everyone will be included, even Jesus, who is home for a visit) This prompt was suggested to me by an anonymous user in a PM and I just loved the idea! I will still be continuing Grounded and updating them daily. (Hopefully) Thank you for supporting my stories! Enjoy! -A.J.**

A typical summer week had gone by in the Adams Foster household. Stef worked double shifts to cover for Mike, who had the flu, and Lena had tirelessly worked on the endless stream of grant applications that Monte had placed on her desk. In striking contrast, the Adams Foster children spent the week bored out of their skulls. They would lounge for hours on the home's many couches, mumbling small talk to each other as they searched for entertainment on their phones and computers. It was the end of another one of these days when Stef spoke up at dinner.

"I'm sick of this! This weekend, we're all going camping!" Everyone looked up at her sudden outburst with the utmost confusion, however, they agreed with her proclamation and nodded in response.

For the remaining two days of the week, the house buzzed with excitement from the kids. They had been camping once before, and even Mariana agreed the change of scenery would be refreshing.

"I think I'm just going to spend the whole weekend in the water… Jesus! That reminds me! You need to get the floaties from the garage!" Jesus groaned but did as his sister requested.

Jude was the most excited, and every second that Callie was his company he ranted about his excitement, telling her his entire plan of the weekend's activities. She listened politely as he droned on. "…And I'll go swimming in the lake, I mean, duh! Jesus and I are gonna sneak away and explore the woods… Oh man. I'll be great…" Callie couldn't help smiling. Jude had never been this happy, and since that had always been her goal in life, she felt a sense of accomplishment at him mood.

The night before they were to set out, the family congregated at the kitchen table for a final dinner at home. Stef dominated the conversation, as per usual, explaining and re-explaining the packing list and departure procedure.

"…If you boys forget to bring your toothbrushes, I will make all of you build your own with bark and leaves. I'm not letting this happen again." Callie and Mariana giggled and Jude's cheeks turned red.

"Hey, shut it!" She playfully yelled at them. They laughed again, but their carefree laughing fit was interrupted by a sudden coughing fit from Callie. The moms looked concerned, and Stef brought her a glass of water which she drank gratefully.

"Hmm Miss Callie… we should look after that… maybe you're getting sick." Stef wondered.

"No!" Callie yelled abruptly. She was greeted by a few startled faces. "Sorry, I mean… um… it's nothing. I'm fine."

"Okay…" Stef said.

"Hey guys, who's gonna finish these potatoes?" Lena said, attempting to return the situation to its previously ordinary air.

"I will!" Jesus called, impaling a potato with his fork. Callie giggled as she watched him; it seemed as if her outburst forgotten, until she saw Stef's eyes on her with a suspicious glance. Callie tried to finish her meal as normally as possible, but she still felt Stef's eyes on her. After dinner, Mariana and Callie began packing in their rooms. Pulling out some sweatshirts and athletic shoes, Mariana spoke. "I'm so excited to get out of this house…" She droned. "And this time Haley won't be here to ruin our vacation. I'm so glad about that."

"Yeah. It'll be fun. Did you get the sheets for the air mattress?" Callie asked, tossing a pair of jeans in her duffel bag.

"You underestimate me." Mariana said with a sassy smile, revealing an entire suitcase filled with bedding."

"Wow." Callie grinned. "Impressive." Callie felt a cough coming on. She jogged downstairs and through the backdoor, opening the gate to the alley and she coughed freely. When she returned inside, Stef approached her.

"What were you doing in the alley, Cal?" She asked, trying to seem as casual as possible.

But Callie's quick mind had an excuse. "Just throwing some old clothes away."

Stef didn't entirely seem convinced, but dropped the subject. "Hey, have you and Mariana finished packing? You ladies should get to bed a little earlier tonight." She rested her arm on Callie's shoulder, pushing her towards the staircase.

"It's not even dark yet!" Callie said jokingly.

"It will be soon… ish…" Stef said, kissing Callie on the top of the head before sending her up the stairs.

"Where have you been?" Mariana asked when she walked into the room.

"Moms told me to take some stuff out to the garbage. I totally spaced." Callie lied again. "Hey, I'll be back okay?" She said, grabbing her house keys and phone, walking out of the room.

"Weird." Mariana commented.

Stef saw Callie slip on her shoes and a light jacket in front of the front door.

"Hey, babe. Where are you going?"

"Just for a walk. I'll be gone like 10 minutes, tops."

When Stef didn't seem convinced, Callie spoke up again.

"Please? I haven't gotten any exercise all day. I'll be back before it's dark, I promise." She shifted her weight. "I even finished packing. I'm all ready to go."

Stef sighed. "Okay. You may go." Callie thanked her and opened the front door. Just as Stef was about to close it behind her, she called out: "If you aren't back in ten minutes, I will track you down!"

"Kay!" She heard in return as Callie set off.

With every step she took, Callie felt worse. Her coughs were deeper, her voice getting raspier, her throat beginning to ache. She tried to speak, but her voice sounded pained, as if she were croaking out her words with immense difficulty.

She didn't have a destination in mind, but felt her phone buzz to let her know that she should head home. She wanted to walk forever, but the logical voice inside her head persuaded her to turn around; the last thing she wanted was to be in trouble with Stef.

She opened the front door and waved to Stef who was sitting comfortably in the living room with a book.

"You're home two minutes early, sweets. Good job." Stef praised. She longed to tell Stef she felt sick. She desired the closeness of her mother's love and even being taken care of a little bit. The voice in her head echoed: _Good job? You won't do a good job if she finds out you're sick. You'll ruin the family vacation. You know, the one Jude has been obsessing about for a week. If you know what's best, you'll ignore it so Jude can have a good time._ This voice was mean, but she couldn't help believing it. Years in the foster care system had convinced her that she was a burden, which she still believed today, no matter how much Stef and Lena tried to convince her otherwise.

She trudged up the stairs and through the hallway. She stopped at her moms' bedroom, checking to see if Lena was inside. She heard her Mama's familiar voice, and turned to face the origin of the sound. Fortunately, Lena was preoccupied in her and Mariana's room, as her sister held up outfit after outfit and asking which she should bring. Callie glanced at Mariana's stack of clothes, seeing that the pile was shrinking rapidly, which meant Lena's stay in their room was approaching its final moments. Her window of opportunity was small.

She snuck in quietly, careful not to creak the floorboards or make any noise as she approached their bathroom. She crept inside, opening the medicine cabinet and locating the Aspirin and cough drops. She took a handful of each variety of medicine and stuffed them into her pockets. She then carefully left the scene just as she'd entered it, creeping to the hallway where she let out a long breath.

She ambled to her bathroom, where she stripped herself of her clothes and treated herself to a hot shower. Afterwards, she hastily swallowed the little pills and deposited the rest into a plastic bag. She popped a cough drop into her mouth and made her way back to her bedroom. A pajama clad Mariana greeted her as she sunk into bed. Mariana bade her a good night, and she nodded in response, turning to face the wall as she shivered herself to sleep.

The next thing she remembered was a loud voice and a blinding light. "Callie! Mariana! Let's go, my babies! The great outdoors awaits!" Callie groaned. She felt worse than she did the night before, if that was even possible. Her head throbbed in addition to her other symptoms, and she felt like she was on fire. Even still, she grabbed a set of clothes and dragged herself to the bathroom, quickly changing and brushing her hair. She swallowed a few painkillers and suckled on a cough drop, hoping to conceal her sickness. She gazed in the mirror, and saw a sickly, slightly green face looking back at her. She quickly grabbed some make-up, attempting to hide her dismal appearance from her family.

She trudged downstairs, grateful for the fast-working nature of the cough drops.

Thankfully for Callie, breakfast was especially chaotic that morning, and no one noticed when she didn't eat any of the food Stef set in front of her.

Not much time had passed before the family had clambered into 2 cars and set off on their way. Lena, Brandon, and Jesus took the Prius, and the girls and Jude joined Stef in the larger SUV. Mariana called shotgun, which was fine with Callie, who wanted nothing less than for Stef to stare at her for the 3-hour drive. She collapsed against the window in the back, sleeping for nearly the whole ride.

They pulled into their campsite and got to work, setting up their things and pitching the tents.

Callie slacked off a bit, but still worked as hard as she could. Because of the shear amount of things they had brought, setting up took nearly all afternoon, and soon they were finishing dinner and getting ready for bed. Callie and Mariana set off to go to their tent, and the moms to theirs'. Brandon, Jude, and Jesus decided to watch the stars, and Callie and Mariana were soon joined by Jesus, who had grown bored of looking for constellations.

"Hey Callie…" He said apprehensively after she had spaced out for the third time.

She moved her head to meet his eyes, which were kind and genuine. "You feel sick, don't you?"

Callie thought about denying this fact, but found herself nodding her head.

"Hey… I've been there. Thinking that I had to hide stuff from Moms. But… they love you… and soon you'll be their kid… and parents take care of their kids." He finished, giving her a soft smile.

"But I don't want to ruin the vacation… I mean, everyone was so excited for this… especially Jude. The way he was talking about his trip… I can't spoil that." Callie looked at her feet.

"But I think you have to." Mariana spoke. "I'm worried about you, and Moms won't mind! They'll be even more worried! You have to tell them. Come on. I'll go with you."

And so Callie, Mariana, and Jesus found themselves walking a few paces to the Moms' tent, unzipping the fly and glancing through the screen. Inside, the two moms sat next to each other, reclined against stacks of pillows, the space lit by 2 large lanterns.

"Hey babies. What's up?" Stef asked casually, flipping through a magazine.

"Um…" Jesus tried to start the conversation. Mariana looked at Callie, who gulped and opened her mouth.

"I don't feel well..." She croaked. At the sound of her voice, both moms lunged forward to pull her into the tent. Jesus dropped her pillow and sleeping bag into the moms' tent.

"Night, Callie." The twins called and headed back to their tents.

"Come here, baby." Stef said concernedly, pulling her to sit down on the air mattress. "What's wrong?'' She asked, placing her hand on Callie's forehead and down her back to feel her temperature. "Woah, she's pretty warm, Lena."


	2. Part 2

Temperature: Part 2

 **I apologize for the long wait you all have endured for this part 2. I am anticipating one more part (maybe more, I don't control when inspiration takes over) and I'll try to get that one out by the end of the week. As always, I'm open to all kinds of story suggestions (this story was a suggestion from an awesome guest) and I always am in need of prompts!**

 **In this chapter, there is some Jude/Callie bonding, which should be fun for those of you who think they're adorable. Anyway, I'm rambling. I'll let you read the chapter. Thanks for reading! -A.J.**

Lena rifled through Stef's backpack until she located the medical box. From inside: She retrieved a few instant cold packs, the thermometer, and a few dry rags. She handed the thermometer to Stef, who set it down by her side and invited Callie into her lap. Callie, who was craving attention and coddling obliged, and went to join her mother against the far wall of the tent. Once Callie was settled against her, Stef inserted the tip of the thermometer into Callie's ear, brushing a few strands of hair out of its way.

"101.2. Poor baby, you must really feel lousy." Lena hypothesized, observing the little numbers on the thermometer.

"Oh, my sweet, why didn't you say anything before?" Stef asked, her voice dripping in concern. Callie mumbled somberly in response, but no words were discernable.

"A little louder, love." Stef said gently.

"I didn't want to ruin your vacation." She said quietly.

A melancholy look spread onto Lena's features. She leaned forward and laid her hands on her daughter's shoulders.

"Sweetheart, your health is way more important to us. We can go camping any weekend." Lena said, glancing at Stef who shared her heartbroken expression.

"But… Jesus came home… and Jude's been talking about this all week… you guys even got Mariana excited… and with your jobs… you needed a break… not to have to worry about me…" She punctuated her last sentence fragment with venom.

Stef smiled. "Callie, my love, we will always worry about you. You are our daughter and when you don't feel so good, we love taking care of you." Stef brushed Callie's hair back and felt her forehead again.

"Now, I don't know about the rest of our brood, but why don't I take the Prius and drive Ms. Callie home? We can take back some things you guys won't need and then I'll help are sweet daughter recover. How's that?" Stef piped up.

"Sounds good. But for now, let's try to get that fever down. Lay down in the middle, Callie." Lena said, organizing the medical supplies.

"First up, we should get her some fever reducer." Lena spoke again, grabbing 2 Aspirins from a pill bottle in Stef's backpack.

"Here, baby." Stef said, handing Callie a bottle of water they'd pumped earlier that day.

Callie downed the pills and leaned back into the air mattress as her mothers began activating the cold packs and saturating the cloths in cool water. They wrapped the cold packs in the damp towels and placed them on Callie's forehead and under her neck. Callie shivered and shifted so she was closer to Stef, who opened her arms and cuddled her sick daughter.

"I wondered why you were so quiet. It's good to have my daughter back." She said, kissing Callie's fevered brow.

And so the mothers and their daughter sunk into their pillows and switched off the lanterns and closed their eyes, eager to get Callie home.

When the sun came up the next morning, Callie's fever had risen to 102.4, which alarmed the moms and they knew that Callie needed to get home. Stef, Lena, Mariana, and Jesus loaded Callie's things into the Prius as well as some things the rest of them wouldn't need for the remaining 2 days. Callie was moved from the hot tent to a chair in the shade with a large bottle of water and orders from Stef to drink the whole thing. Jude apprehensively approached his sister as she gulped down another portion of water.

"Hey, Callie. Are you okay?" Jude asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine, buddy." She croaked.

Jude wore a concerned expression. "Callie, why didn't you tell them? They're our moms."

"It doesn't matter. It's stupid. Just forget it." Callie said, diverting her eyes to the dirt.

"It isn't stupid, Callie. Come on, just tell me." He persisted.

"I… I didn't want to ruin this for you, Jude. You've been so excited for this trip. I didn't want to be a burden for Moms." She almost whispered, hesitating on every word.

"Callie… we're safe now. We have a family, even if you haven't been adopted yet. As for me, I'm fine. Really. I don't want to go anywhere if I know you will be suffering. I owe you that." Jude smiled. Callie smiled back.

"I love you, Jude. Have fun while I'm gone, okay?" Callie asked as Stef walked up to the pair of siblings.

"Hey, you. No more talking! I know your throat is hurting right now and it isn't going to get better if you are blabbing away all day." Stef said, laying a hand on her daughter's warm forehead. She wrapped her arm around Jude. "Now, come on Callie. It's time we got out of here." She kissed Jude's head and was engulfed in a hug from Lena and the rest of the kids before she took Callie by her fevered hand and sat her in the front seat of the Prius.

"Let's get you home, Cal." Stef said cheerfully, backing the car out of the gravel driveway.

They sped through the nearly empty highway, a rare treat for Southern California. They rode while Stef told Callie the story of her first date with Lena, pop music quietly humming from the speakers. The drive was quicker than expected, and they drove past signs welcoming them back to Long Beach. Stef pulled into a Jamba Juice drive through and ordered her daughter a strawberry and banana smoothie, which Callie took gratefully. They drove up to their home and Stef sighed. She picked up her and Callie's duffel bags and marched Callie into the house.

"Pajamas. Now, Cal." Stef called from her position at the bottom of the stairs. As Callie approached the top of the staircase, she swayed, gripping the handrail and shutting her eyes tightly. Stef dashed up the stairs and steadied her daughter's movements, holding Callie's waist and shoulders close to her.

"You okay, baby?" She asked, kissing Callie's temple. Callie nodded, loosening her grip on the handrail and continuing her way up the stairs, closely followed by Stef.


End file.
